Tom Hayes: A Victory in the Battle Against Libor Rigging Charges

In a significant turn of events, Tom Hayes, the first trader to be imprisoned for interest rate rigging, has had his conviction overturned by the UK Supreme Court. The unanimous decision comes after Hayes endured a lengthy legal battle to vindicate himself from charges of manipulating the now-obsolete Libor benchmark rate.

Initially facing a 14-year imprisonment, later shortened to 11, Hayes served over five years before his 2021 release on license. A former trading prodigy at Citigroup and UBS, Hayes symbolized the global Libor scandal. His Supreme Court victory also extends to Carlo Palombo, another trader implicated in manipulating Libor's euro counterpart, Euribor.

The court's ruling addresses the contested Libor and Euribor definitions, which the accused argued unjustly barred banks from considering commercial interests when setting rates. Hayes' case follows a pivotal U.S. decision in 2022 that reversed similar charges against Deutsche Bank traders, marking a new chapter in the ongoing Libor saga.

(With inputs from agencies.)